the beginning or the end?

Tonight was the last meeting of a church ministry that has been my home away from home for the last four years or so. It was a night of reminiscing, remembering, smiling and laughing, crying, hugging, thanking, and recognizing. It was our last meeting as a group, but was it the end of an era...or a new beginning?

I heard about Revolution, a discipleship-based (home group based) ministry geared toward young, single and married adults, through the newspaper at my church but it took me months to work up the nerve to actually attend a group where I knew no one. Talk about stepping out of my comfort zone!

As much as I knew I was in need of an area to get "plugged in" at my super-sized megachurch, I also knew that I was overly shy when it came to the thought of walking into a room of strangers and trying to form new friendships without at least one friend there with me as my crutch.

I finally visited Revolution. I felt uncomfortable, out of place, and isolated. I went again. Same feeling. I wasn't liking it, but I kept going back. In a way, I guess you could say that I made a deal with God.

"Lord, I'll keep going until I get plugged into a home group and I'll see how that goes. That's all I'm committing to for now..."

Well, I signed up for a home group and thus began the longest year of my life as I sat on a waiting list and sporadically attended the weekly group meetings with much trepidation and reservation.

And then it happened. Through a "slight miscommunication," an email circulated that an all girls Bible study, led by Christie and Angela, would begin the following week at MY house! I figured I had better attend. And so I did. For the next couple of years...

That home group, which I eventually began to co-lead, would change my life. Through a series of newly formed friendships, heart-to heart talks, discipleship and accountability, my walk with Christ went from good and strong to amazing and contagious! I met friends who not only loved Christ and talked about Him on Sundays and at Bible study meetings, but actually lived like Him on a daily basis.

Parts of my heart that had never before been awakened were suddenly drawn out and developed. I fell in love with being a servant of the King and I tapped into the power of prayer in a way that I had never experienced before.

I came to Revolution over four years ago, knowing no one and feeling lost. I am leaving with a family of close friends that is too large to count and a support network that I know will continue to uplift me and pray for me even as I move away to the other corner of the country to start my life with the husband that I met through this very ministry.

To me, this isn't the end of a ministry or the end of incredible memories made. It's the beginning. In the words of our leader Casey, we've been sheep in constant need of feed and care and now it's our turn to become the shepherds who go out and care for our own flocks. I'm leaving Revolution armed with more tools for service and spiritual growth than I could have thought possible at this point in my life.

It's my prayer that Dan and I will take what we have learned and transfer it to our own personal ministry as man and wife....that tonight would be the beginning of something far greater and far more beautiful than we've ever imagined...